274 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



party to return by the seashore, and the rest in the jolly-boat, 

 now heavily laden. 



I am informed that drinkable water may be obtained by 

 digging two or three feet into the sand of the seashore, just 

 above high-water mark, but I cannot make that statement 

 from experience, having always taken care to be well pro- 

 vided in that respect. 



The tide being at its full our progress downwards became 

 slow, two men poling at the stern, while I resumed my seat at 

 the bows. When we had dropped down about a mile and 

 a-half in perfect silence, the peculiar sounds made by a heavy 

 animal in drawing up its feet from soft mud caused us to 

 prick our ears, and a moment or two afterwards, on turning 

 an elbow of the creek, a rhinoceros was viewed, slowly 

 walking along the miry left bank, and showing above the 

 low growth of jungle on it a couple of long ears and an 

 immensely broad back. 



The beast, unconscious of our vicinity, moved leisurely 

 along, feeding at its ease, not thirty yards from us, when I 

 opened fire with the heavy rifle and sent a conical raking 

 forward towards the heart and lungs, following up with a 

 second in the thigh, which broke its right hind leg as it 

 darted forward to escape, but fell in the effort. Before the 

 wounded animal could recover itself, the boat being pro- 

 pelled briskly up, I was able to strike it again twice with the 

 12-bore rifle at ten yards, bringing it down on its head as 

 it rose, and I finished it with a fifth ball from the " Express." 

 We dashed ashore with a hearty cheer, such as those wild 

 woods had never echoed before, and casting ourselves in the 

 mud knee-deep were soon standing beside the prostrate 

 monster, a large male, with a better horn than the other two 

 had. On examination we found that the first bullet alone 

 would have killed in a few minutes, since it had penetrated 

 the lungs ; the third and fourth also inflicted mortal wounds 

 near the heart, and the fifth had struck the middle of the 

 neck ; it was not surprising, therefore, that so great a beast 

 should have succumbed so quickly. 



